Over the years, “The Simpsons” took over global mass media and is now one of the most popular shows in the world. It is also the oldest American TV series and its popularity hasn’t run out in all these years.
“The Simpsons” characters are some of the most recognizable fictional characters on Earth.
Prophecies
It is believed that the scriptwriters of “The Simpsons” have a gift for making predictions. The most recent proof is the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election, which “The Simpsons” predicted 16 years ago.
Creator of ‘The Simpsons’
“The Simpsons” is the life work of American animator Matt Groening, who filled the universe of the series with a lot of his personal life details.
The characters of Homer and Marge bear their names in honor of Matt's parents. The younger characters of Lisa and Maggie in honor of Groening’s sisters and they all live on the street of his childhood.
The animated character of Groening has repeatedly appeared in the series as he speaks in the voice of Maggie Simpson.
However, when Maggie uttered her first word “dad,” it was voiced by Elizabeth Taylor.
At the end of last century, the main voice actors received about $30,000 per episode; today they earn an average of $400,000 per episode.
Influential Characters
“The Simpsons” characters may seem mediocre and a bit like losers. But in fact, each one of them is a legend.
Marge Simpson has been on the cover of Playboy and Maxim as the face of the world’s sexiest housewife.
Homer Simpson has graced the cover of Men's Health. In 2005, the magazine chose the father of the “yellow family” as the philosopher of the decade.
Bart Simpson has been recognized by Time magazine as one of the most influential people of the 20th century.
The show itself has been called the best show of the century.
Simpsons and football
In 2013, football club Zenit announced the purchase of a new player, Bart Simpson, who was awarded a shirt with No. 87, in honor of the birth year of the series.
The football club signed a contract with the company 20th Century Fox, according to which the characters of the series can be used as souvenirs. Similar agreements with
“The Simpsons” were signed by Barcelona, Chelsea and Boca Juniors.
Heroes of the barricade
“The Simpsons” are often criticized around the world, mainly by conservatives and religious structures. In 2008, after an appeal by representatives of Protestant churches, “The Simpsons” together with some other shows were no longer aired on the Russian TV channel "2x2."
People in Moscow and St. Petersburg took to the streets with placards, demanding the return of the show.
In the US, “The Simpsons” made headlines when the wife of then President George Bush, Barbara Bush, received a letter from “The Simpsons” in 1990, after an article in People magazine quoted the first lady as saying “The Simpsons” “was the dumbest thing [she] had ever seen.”
Here is the snippet from the letter written by Marge Simpson to Barbara Bush.
“I try to teach my children Bart, Lisa, and even little Maggie, always to give somebody the benefit of the doubt and not talk badly about them, even if they’re rich. It’s hard to get them to understand this advice when the very First Lady in the country calls us not only dumb, but “the dumbest thing” she ever saw. Ma’am, if we’re the dumbest thing you ever saw, Washington must be a good deal different than what they teach me at the current events group at the church.”
The letter, signed “With Great Respect, Marge Simpsons,” ends with a request for the first lady to end the controversy.
Remarkably, Barbara Bush responded to the letter asking Marge to “Please forgive a loose tongue.”
